The invention relates to an attachment device for use in the vacuum therapy of wounds, with a conduit to which a vacuum can be applied, with a large-surface vacuum-tight mounting means, to whose topside, facing away from the wound, the conduit is vacuum-tightly fastened, wherein the mounting means can be attached to a vacuum dressing covering and tightly sealing the wound against the atmosphere, preferably using an additional adhesive film, wherein the conduit communicates with the wound space through openings in the mounting means and in the vacuum dressing.
The importance of the vacuum therapy of wounds, in particular, of wounds that are deep and whose healing is therefore problematic, has recently grown. Vacuum therapy means that a region of the body or wound that would otherwise be exposed to the atmosphere is pressure-tightly and vacuum-tightly sealed against the environment, that is, the atmosphere in which we live and breathe, by means to be described in more detail below, wherein a pressure that is reduced with respect to atmospheric pressure in a manner still be described, which is therefore negative pressure with respect to the atmosphere, can be applied and continuously maintained within the sealed wound space. Where mention is made herein of a vacuum on the region, this refers to a pressure range of typically between 0 and 500 mm Hg (mm of mercury) below the ambient atmospheric pressure. It has been shown that this is conducive to wound healing. Vacuum-tight sealing can be achieved with a vacuum dressing that, for example, can comprise a pressure-tight or vacuum-tight film layer, which is typically adhesively bonded to an intact region of the body surrounding the wound, thus providing a tight seal. To supply vacuum into the wound space and maintain it there, from a device for producing a vacuum, that is, a vacuum pump in the broadest sense, in the case of the systems stated here for the vacuum therapy of wounds, conduits can be used to which a vacuum is applied that act in conjunction with the vacuum dressing by means of an attachment device to apply a vacuum on or in the wound space. Such an attachment device of the type stated in the introduction is known, for example, from WO 2006/052338 A2. Circular-section tubes are used to supply the vacuum to the wound.
The object of this invention is to provide an attachment device of the type stated in the introduction, which proves pleasant or hardly painful for the patient on application or contact and wherein the sealing of the components can be achieved with a technically and economically reasonable effort and in a user-friendly manner.